


Revision Process

by Dr4conianlaw



Category: Kamen Rider Build
Genre: M/M, Post Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 18:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16454933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr4conianlaw/pseuds/Dr4conianlaw
Summary: Someone has to look over Sento's scripts, and with how things have ended up, Banjo is the literal only person it would make sense to ask.





	Revision Process

**Author's Note:**

> Haha this took a while to write. But anyways: thank you so much Stella for your beta help~!

_[Build: I’m gonna regret this day, for sure...]_

Ryuga tripped over reading that line as he skimmed through the script for the first episode of Sento’s ridiculous passion project. They were sitting together on a bench in the park and Sento was having him— kinda proofread it? Except, of course, it felt awkward commenting on any scene he hadn’t been there for, and now that ‘Banjo Ryuga’ had arrived it seemed to mostly stick close to reality, so there wasn’t much to add there, and it’s not like he was super good at checking for grammar either, so. Maybe he was just _reading_ it.

That line, though… he couldn't help but trace over it with his eyes over and over. Even though the haze of adrenaline and confusion of that first meeting he could still faintly recall when Sento said that... man, what a relic. It was amusing to think about now, honestly. It begged the question though…

He tapped the paper, pointing the line out to Sento. “So, do you?”

Sento peered over, squinting just a little as he read. He then smirked, and in the most deadpan tone possible replied, “Yes. Obviously. Every single day. I’m regretting it right now.”

Ryuga shoved his shoulder for being a jerk.

Sento wryly smiled at him— but, then the expression broke down, and his partner took on a faraway look, eyes soft and staring away in silence. “...I never did, really. Definitely not the fugitive stuff, that was probably inevitable anyways, although that’s obviously not what’s important...”

He trailed off briefly, finger tapping a few times at his leg, before continuing. “...And I could hardly regret helping you, right?” Sento’s brow quirked, and he returned Ryuga’s earlier shove with a light push. “...Even if you did try to be a nuisance. I mean, who even thinks it’s a good idea to knock out your friendly local superhero?”

His pensive expression soon returned, however. “Especially now though… I suppose that sentiment didn’t age well at all, huh? I could never regret it.”

“...That’s sappy.”

Sento threw up his hands in… what was _probably_ mock offence. “I _can’t_ believe you’d bully me like this, never mind, I regret _everything._ ”

...And Ryuga might’ve have let things drop there there, except. Reading about the Banjo Ryuga of the past had left the Banjo Ryuga of the present day in a...

Well, a _mood_.

Not even just the preemptive cringe he was saving up for when he knew he’d have to confront some things he did that were... extremely dumb, later on. But just seeing Banjo Ryuga, prisoner and lab rat. Banjo Ryuga, scared and angry and frightened and alone and prepared to fight and fight and fight and fight—

Cornered, desperate, hardly even feeling human after such inhumanity.

...It felt a lifetime away from the dumb definitely human he was today. And all thanks to a ridiculous hero who turned out to be secretly so, so human himself...  
  
“...Well, uh. I appreciate it. That you chose to save me, back when I was... y’know.” (Nothing but a jerk.)

Rather then the cocky response Ryuga had thought he might receive, it seemed he actually caught Sento off balance. He was staring away as he fiddled at the hem of his shirt, probably tallying up some mental calculations thinking of a way to respond.

“...Ah, there’s no need— I was selfishly motivated there, really.”

...Really? That seemed like… it had to be nonsense, but the sentiment was confusing enough Ryuga decided to ask for clarification, in case he was just actually misinterpreting what Sento meant entirely. “You’re gonna need to run that one by me.”

If anything, Sento actually looked eager for the chance to explain, the same spark in his eyes as when he got a chance to run down the workings of his latest ridiculous invention. “Well, you can’t just run an experiment once and expect accurate results, right? You need to run multiple trials to be sure. I thought I had found a good path for myself, but finding you, hurt by Faust like I was… I thought if I showed you that same path, and it did you good as well, then that would prove that I was definitely on the right track.”

Hmm. Oooookay? That sure was a chunk of… whatever that was. Ryuga mulled it over for a few seconds, but... “Uh. Sento, that logic was, pretty complex, and I’m pretty sure some of it went over my head? But I’m... not actually noticing anything here that cancels out you going out of your way to help out a dude who wasn’t doing much to deserve it at first?”

Sento’s brow furrowed. “But you did deserve it? You were hurt.”

Oh… oh, geez. That was so… how incredibly Sento, somehow. God, he left Ryuga in awe sometimes. “Right. Yeah, sure, of course. That’s just how a hero of justice like you thinks, huh?”

Judging from Sento’s hand buried in his hair and how he was now staring very studiously away at a distant tree, he was clearly flustered by the assessment. Which was, frankly, ridiculous of him. How could someone who so often bragged so thoroughly about his heroic status be thrown off guard by a simple appraisal of his heroic qualities? Weak.

A silence then lapsed, with only the wind and rustling leaves as background noise. It was… nice, just sitting like this, together. They’d really made it, into this world so pristine and non-war torn, with no glowing wall interrupting the horizon.

...Ryuga had never been very good at stillness though, he always ended up distracted by some new tangent soon enough, and apparently that continued to be true even in the middle of such a nice moment. Because thinking about this world… well, there were questions bugging him.

“...So, like.” He shuffled his feet a bit, dragging them along the in the dirt. “...What next, man?”

“I mean, you could actually finish checking my script.”

“Geez, I was just distracted for a moment, don’t be so impatient.” Ryuga glanced back down at the paper… except, no, his train of thought was elsewhere now, he wouldn’t be able to focus. “And, y’know what, I’m serious. What are we gonna do with this whole… new world?”

Sento paused before responding, tapping his fingers on his leg. “...I was thinking we should meet up with the other riders, first.”

“Oh, like Emu and Gentaro and all of them? Yeah, I guess that makes sense, it’d be cool to see them again.”

Sento smiled, just a little. “Yeah, a reunion would be nice.” His expression after that was much more stretched and neutral, though. “But really I’m thinking… I mean, I don’t know if any of them are at all aware of the worlds situation, but we probably have an obligation to explain what happened, and why we caused the exact thing we worked together to stop last time.”

Haha, they sure did end up doing basically that. “Except with a lot less murder.”

“Yes, significantly less murder then Mogami was planning.” Sento raised his fist in a mock cheer, “Go, us.”

But as fun as that sounded, that was a side trip, not the endgame. “...Okay. What next then? What about, y’know…”

…

...Alright, he had left that very deliberately hanging pause hoping Sento would pick it back up, but he was just staring away again at what apparently was a _truly_ fascinating tree. Ryuga was left with the burden of continuing, and as he did he couldn’t help his tone becoming softer. “...What about our friends? What are we gonna do about… that?”

“...They’re all doing fine. Their new lives are all so much kinder to them…”

“Oh, you looked them up already?” Not really surprising, he had thought about doing so himself, but…

Sento gave a half-hearted half-shrug. “I mean, it’s not exactly difficult to google a rising politician and a star reporter. And Kazumin’s farm is doing much better as well. And, well, I’ve already been to Nascita of course…”

...Fair. Their home suddenly not being their home, having never been their home, was one of the more unsettling things on a pile of the incredibly unsettling things that had resulted from the fusion.

“...That’s good to know. Still, though, what are we gonna say about... well, everything?” He made a vague hand gesture meant to allude to the enormity of the nature of ‘everything.’

Sento’s features resolved into something more grimly resolute. “We shouldn’t say anything. They wouldn’t— we’d just seem strange. It’s too much to hear from a stranger.”

That… was reasonable, but also seemed to point to a conclusion Ryuga had spent these couple of days trying to ignore was a possibility. “...Do you really think they’ll be strangers forever? That they’re just, gone, entirely?” He was trying to remain calm, but he could feel a level of panic stowing away into his voice. “Because that seems, wrong, wasn’t this supposed to be the best of both worlds?”

“True, but…” The scientist gave a rueful not-quite-a-laugh exhale. “I’m not sure how much of our world would have ranked as ‘best’ in comparison…”

Ryuga’s face twisted in a grimace. What gave whatever powers that created this world the right to be so judgemental? “I mean the situation was definitely worse, but that just makes the people of our world all the more incredible, right? Making it through all that…”

“...Those who made it through, at least.”

Ah, shit. It was depressing to think of all those Evolt had— or just in the war— well, at least that wasn’t relevant anymore. No one had died in a black hole just because some fools couldn’t climb a tower fast enough.

Sento was looking away, fiddling with a lock of hair and pulling on it. “...At least our friends are happy. It’s fine.”

Ryuga sighed. “...For them, maybe, yeah. And… I’m at least glad for that, really. But still: but what about us?”

“...We have each other, right? It’s fine.”

Sento trailed on, under his breath, as though just addressing himself at this point. “...It’s fine.”

...Wait. Wasn’t this…

A moment in the script Ryuga knew would be coming up, just next ‘episode.’ His grief over Kasumi’s death, trying to find an excuse to give up, babbling nonsense. And Sento had asked—

“...What about this is fine?”

His partner froze, lock of hair pulled taught between thumb and forefinger.

“Sento, this sucks! Everything about this— I mean almost everything other than you— but everything else about this sucks!” He kept picking up steam as he continued, the worries that had been growing in his chest since he woke up alone condensing. “We lost our home, no one remembers us— it’s fucked up! Nothing about this is fine!”

Sento’s ‘deer in the headlights’ look now dueled with apparent concern. He couldn’t seem to find any words though, and after a pause he just reached for Ryuga’s hand, gently squeezing it. “Um.”

Which… honestly, Ryuga was starting to get the feeling that he was even more not-fine with how things had turned out then he had realized, and despite everything, Sento’s awkward attempt at reassurance was… comforting.

...But, then again, how dare he? How rude to try to be concerned when Ryuga was still in the middle of trying to show concern for him, honestly!

He rallied, and continued on, slightly more measured. “Just… admit it. You don’t need to pretend otherwise, to say everything is fine, to be ready to settle for... whatever this is. It’s, uh, way, way too early for that? Don’t say it’s ‘fine’ so you can give up on trying to fix anything before you’ve even tried, that’s not a lie worth telling.”

What had been the reassuring grasp tightened into something more uncomfortable. Apparently Sento was using Ryuga’s hand as an anchor in some turbulent internal debate—

...Before slumping against him, resting his head on Ryuga’s shoulder, grasp loosening. They spent a quiet moment like that, the silence eventually only slightly disturbed by Sento’s murmured response.

“Fine. Maybe this isn’t all…” A dramatic pause, still reluctant to admit it. “...Fine. But…” His face was scrunched up in frustration. “This _was_ our fix. We gave it all we had, and this world was the result we just barely earned. It... feels like too much to expect, that we’ll be able to push our luck any further. I don’t want to ruin this happy ending, ruin anything for them…”

“...We gotta at least try. I don’t… know what we can do. What we should do. But it sucks, so we’ve gotta give it our best shot. _You_ need to give it _your_ best shot.” Ryuga tried returning the earlier squeeze, and even attempted a grin, although his expression must have been shaky at best. “I… need you to do that for me, you got it? ‘Cause now you’re all I’ve got left...”

“Ha…” It was more a spoken syllable than a laugh… but Sento at least gave him a small nod.

And then, a sigh. “...This is terrible. Don’t steal my dialogue. Your part is already cast, I can’t believe you’d try to steal my role.”

Ryuga chuckled, glad for the tension to be broken. So this was how he was gonna play it? “Maybe I deserve a fair chance to audition, huh?”

Sento’s voice took on exactly the way too full of himself tone Ryuga expected. “Don’t be ridiculous, you aren’t anywhere near knowledgeable enough to portray a genius like me.”

“Eh… I figure what I don’t know about math and science I can just fake by just—” He tried mimicking Sento’s weird science-y hand gesture. “Shaka shaka hoppity kblam or whatever, right? I can just repeat all that onomatopoeia!”

His partner froze, then after a moment suddenly sat back up, staring at him with a scrunched up expression of frustrated betrayal.

“...That’s it, I’m cutting Banjo Ryuga from the script.”

“Wha— hey!”

Ryuga was forced to fend off Sento’s lunge to grab the stapled papers, clutching them close to his chest (probably wrinkling them, but: obviously Sento’s fault, really.) He wasn’t sure how seriously he should be taking the threat, since on the one hand: _what_ , but on the other hand: ...if anyone could muster up the sheer petty energy to follow through it would be Sento. Still, he wasn’t taking any chances.

“You can’t— I mean, you actually _can’t_ ,” he squaked in disbelief. “Literally nothing will make sense!?”

“Oh? The sidekick’s got a pretty high opinion of his plot relevance, huh?”

“Screw you.” Dammit, now Sento was definitely seeing it as a challenge, he had to think of a good counter-threat. “I’ll… go write my own spin off, where everyone actually recognizes me as the main hero I am for a change. See how you like that.”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right approach, Sento looked more intrigued then anything. He made a show of considering the idea, tapping his finger to his lips, apparently mulling it over. “...So, you’re putting me in it?”

“Nah!” He stretched, rolling his shoulders and shifting his weight a bit. “Nope, no spotlight hogging jerks.”

Said spotlight hogging jerk’s voice took on that infuriating tone of ‘you’re so cute when you’re oblivious,’ the one Ryuga really, _really_ wished he could actually be oblivious to. “Oh, so who’s going to appreciate you then? I mean, ‘main’ is still pushing it—” (Wow, asshole.) “—but you’re definitely my hero.”

...Okay, Sento had _no business_ starting off with something so rude and still managing to wind up someplace sweet, and Ryuga was honestly annoyed at himself that it was still working. He could feel his cheeks catching fire, so he clung all the more desperately to a grumpy expression. “Dumbass, how’s that gonna to make any sense with your script if I don’t exist?”

A realization that had no right to be a realization since it was so blatantly obvious dawned on Sento’s face, and he hunched forward, hand pressed against his mouth. “...Drat. Continuity is important…”

Ryuga scoffed. “Yeah, continuity. Continuity is why you shouldn’t start an impossible rewrite just to erase the existence of your very heroic and cool partner, entirely out of bullheaded spite. Makes perfect sense.”

Sento just turned to goddamn wink at him though, beaming with a goofy grin. “See? You get it!”

Ugh, there was no way to respond to that besides an eye roll. At least the dumb idea was dropped. “Whatever, man. Just let me read this, alright? I’ll give you notes on all the places to increase my screen time.”

“Hmm… I suppose I can take your suggestions under advisement,” Sento replied, nodding in a mock-serious way.

...Right. Ryuga smoothed out the slightly crumpled pages. Now, where had he left off...


End file.
